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After the blowup of Connecticut's attempt to launch a stateretirement plan for employees of small businesses that lack one,the Chamber of Commerce in Southington is taking on the task forits own corner of the state by taking advantage of a Department ofLabor rule change that lets it wade into the realm of association retirement plans.

According to a report in the Hartford Business Journal, theplan that is being offered by the Southington Chamber—which saysit's the first chamber in New England to do so—will be run byNorthshire Consulting and is the result of a rule change lastSeptember by DOL that allows chambers of commerce to offer a planto businesses that are unrelated except by locale, rather thanhaving to belong to the same industry or share some othercommonality.

A multiple employer plan, or MEP, is also known under the SecureAct as a pooled employer plan, or PEP and must beadministered by a pooled plan provider.

The Southington Chamber has some 300 members, and according tomyRecordJournal.com, the potential for savingboth money and administration time will be a lure to other memberbusinesses and even non-Chamber businesses that either alreadyoffer retirement plans to their employees but don't because of thecost and time required to do so. In addition, it will relievebusiness owners of the fiduciary requirement.

Says the report, "Brian Williams, Northshire Consulting ownerwho will be running the chamber's plan, said a business with 25employees and $2 million in assets could save about $6,000 annuallyby joining. Managing a retirement plan can take between 50 to 70hours per year for employers."

As far as the efforts of Connecticut itself to launch a stateretirement savings program, that at least appears to be in limbo atpresent. After a rancorous blowup of the efforts of the ConnecticutRetirement Security Authority in the wake of Governor Ned Lamont'sfailure to provide further operating funds once its initial "seedmoney" ran out, Michael Walsh, the new chairman of CRSA's board ofdirectors, said in a Hartford Courant report that he's looking into the potential ofpartnering with OregonSaves, Oregon's state-run retirement savingsprogram for private-sector workers.

While nothing definite is in the works in that regard, Oregon,whose program launched in 2017 as the first in the nation, has saidit's willing to partner with other states so that they too canoffer their underserved employees access to an IRA.

So, while the Courant says that OregonSaves' director MichaelParker said in a Government Watch interview that the program hasnot yet been contacted by Connecticut, should that happen, he'swilling to "sit down and say, OK, let's look at your program."

READ MORE:

• Brush up on MEPS — Carosa
• How much will SECURE Act, Open MEPS improveretirement security?
• Why a majority of single-plan sponsorswould consider joining an Open MEP